Personalizing education.

Demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to student success.

Meeting all students’ needs, even when it requires bold steps.

The above are but a few of the requirements for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s annual Marvin R. Pittman Champions for Education awards. They’re also characteristics that North Rowan High School faculty found in Principal Meredith Williams, one of five educators to receive the award for 2019 thanks to a nomination by the school’s teachers.

But Williams said she finds these attributes in North Rowan as a whole.

“It’s been so exciting to be at North high this year because of the rapid and positive pace of change,” said Williams. “That has to do with the fact that our staff is fully dedicated to the purpose of helping each child find their true North. That’s our term for helping each child develop their gifts and passions and leverage those to design a future for themselves.”

Faculty members aren’t surprised by this praise.

“She always gives credit to the teachers,” said Sheila Weidner, who teaches family and consumer science. “She’s the innovator behind all of this.”

“All of this” includes many exciting changes in how the school operates: earlier start times, a focus on real-world readiness and college coursework, to name a few.

“We knew that we needed to change the way high school looked. It’s a big jump from the way middle schools are structured to the way that real life is structured,” said Williams.

She said the school restructured in order to act as a bridge from youth into adulthood.

The school was divided into upper and lower quadrants. The upper focuses on career and college readiness for 11th- and 12th-graders.

“That upper school  is about getting kids ready for that final release into the real world. They have a lot of control over their schedule,” Williams said.

The lower school, for ninth- and 10th-graders, acts as the bridge, with a key component the school’s design lab, a place where students can practice solving real-world problems.

“They’re stretching themselves as adult people who have a responsibility to make the world a better place and to figure out how their unique gifts and talents would allow them to do that,” said Williams.

North Rowan art teacher Leigh Ann Alexander said Williams’ work motivates her every day.

“She really and truly is fearless when it comes to changing education. Change is hard, and she is really the first one I’ve seen that’s really going to make it happen,” she said. “She’s not afraid to try new things and to encourage teachers to try bold things.”

Alexander also praised the principal for her knowledge of the North Rowan community, and for her experience.

Williams credits her own educational foundation — which she built through the North Rowan district.

“I had great teachers and a really fantastic experience,” she said. “I received a Morehead (Scholarship) and went to Chapel Hill and was successful there because of the way I was prepared from North.”

From Chapel Hill, Williams went on to earn her master’s in education from Wake Forest University, serving as a dean at Vance High School in Charlotte after graduation.

Home, however, continued to beckon.

“It was always a calling of mine to come back to North high,” saiid  Williams. “I saw so much potential here. Even as a student, I saw so much potential in my peers that wasn’t recognized throughout this district that I always knew this was a place where really great things could happen.”

Asked, members of her faculty say that great things are already happening, and they’re happening at the hands of Williams.

“Education is not the same as it was for our grandparents,” said Weidner. “We’ve got to try new things. She’s gotten the community involved in that, gotten the teachers involved in that. She’s fought to keep the school open. … She doesn’t get the credit that she deserves, and I’m glad to see she’s being recognized for her effort.”